KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — A good ikan bakar or grilled fish paired with a great sauce will make anybody’s day. It’s a simple dish where the freshness of the fish stands out, lightly accentuated by the spices from the marinade. Eat it with rice and a spicy burn-the-tongue sauce, for a winning meal.
Fresh fish is cleaned and marinated with a spice paste, before cooking it on a hot grill. Most stall owners prefer to use a hot grill plate to cook the fish. Some stalls prefer to wrap the fish with banana leaf like a parcel first before grilling. There’s also another method, where the butterflied fish is placed on a piece of banana leaf, drenched with the spice paste and slowly cooked over the hot grill. The Mat Teh stall at Dato’ Keramat’s wet market
is the exception, as it prefers to use fresh turmeric leaf to wrap the fish for a subtle taste.
Some stall owners, like Gerai Pak Din in KL’s Tanglin food court, prefer grilling the fish on a hot charcoal fire to infuse it with a smoky taste. The fish is grilled in enclosed wire racks over the hot coals without any marinade. All it needs is a light rub of salt and turmeric.
Perfectly grilled fish has a crust and soft yielding flesh within. Usually stalls carry a few varieties of fish. Popular choices include ikan pari or stingray, ikan kembung or Spanish mackerel, or ikan keli or catfish. The stingray is favoured since there’s no tricky bones to mess with vs. the mackerel with its small bones. For those who prefer a creamier taste to their fish, order ikan keli or catfish as its fish oil melts during the grilling to give the fish a lovely soft and almost creamy texture.
Nowadays, ikan merah or red tilapia, favoured by the Chinese for steaming is also used for grilling. A rarity is ikan terubok that is favoured for its fine delicate flesh. There’s a price to pay, as it also has pesky multiple small bones that can take time to remove.
Even the sauces have gone beyond just the simple kicap or soy sauce and tamarind water with chopped chillies and onions. Some stalls even go the extra mile and offer a variety of items like creamy tempoyak (fermented durian), budu (fish sauce), cincalok (fermented small shrimps) and asam pedas or spicy and sour sauce with chillies.
Fend Ikan Bakar
24, Jalan SS5B/2 (next to BSN), Petaling Jaya. Open:12pm to 12am. Closed on alternate Mondays.
Previously located at SS6, this popular place shifted to this bigger shop with two levels about one and a half years ago. You get a choice of ikan pari, ikan kembung, ikan keli and ikan merah. There’s also kerang bakar or cockles cooked in their sambal sauce. If you prefer, they also offer ayam bakar. The fish cooked in the delicious marinade is served with a tamarind sauce and asam pedas, often favoured by the Malaccans. Wash your meal down with their cool drinks like the unusual air bandung jagung made with creamed corn. You can also order their leng chee kang which is given a twist with tangy mango jelly, canned lychees, sago pearls, basil seeds, red dates and snow fungus.
Ikan Bakar Arang
Gerai No. B13, Medan Selera Taman Melawati, Lorong Perak, (Opposite Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara), Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur. Open:12pm to 4pm. Closed on Sundays.
For charred delights, try this humble stall within the huge medan selera in the heart of Taman Melawati. The fish is placed in wire racks and grilled over a BBQ pit fashioned from a split oil drum. You get ikan pari, ikan keli, ikan kembung and unusual choices like cencaru sumbat where the fish is stuffed with sambal. There’s also another version with ikan kembung. The fish is perfectly cooked with a slight smoky taste. What ramps up its deliciousness is their assortment of fabulous sambals and sauces, like budu, salty yet addictive cincalok with chopped chillies and calamansi lime juice, or their tangy addictive sambal hijau. Parking is also ample since it’s located next to an open air car park.
Puteri Cafe Ikan Bakar Banjir
Jalan Jambu Mawar, Off Jalan Kuching, Kuala Lumpur. Open:11am to 4pm. Closed on Sundays.
Drop by this roadside stall to discover lots of goodies on the hot grill, all cooked “banjir” or flooded with their signature spicy sambal. There’s all kinds of fish like ikan pari, ikan keli, ikan merah, ikan kembung. They also sell ikan terubok, a rarity in KL stalls. You also can get grilled sotong and chicken. The sauces are laid out buffet style for you to mix and match. Pick the thick tamarind sauce, kicap manis, budu, cincalok and tempoyak. You can also add chopped onions and chillies in the sauce. Wash down your ikan bakar with their sup kawah, a hearty broth with tender chunks of beef with bones. There is also a variety of fresh ulam and curries for you to pair with your rice.
Kak Ton D’Condo
Jalan Dutamas Seroja, Taman Segambut SPPK, Segambut, Kuala Lumpur. Open:8am to 12pm. (Ikan bakar available from 11.30am onwards) Closed on Sundays.
This stall had built a reputation for its nasi lemak in the morning and its ikan bakar during lunch time. You get the usual varieties like ikan pari, ikan keli, ikan cencaru and ikan kembung, all cooked wrapped up in a banana leaf. Their forte is cooking ikan keli perfectly, best eaten with their tamarind sauce with chillies and chopped onions. Other good eats at this stall include their fried chicken. From 5pm onwards, they offer Thai style dishes cooked upon order.
Sri Banjar Ikan Bakar
Lot 6,7 and 8, Medan Selera MPS, Persiaran 2, Bandar Baru Selayang, Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur. Open daily:12pm to 12am.
Located within the food court, this stall is run by a Chinese Muslim who prepares excellent ikan bakar. Unlike the Malay versions, his grilled fish has a Chinese slant as it’s cooked slathered with his secret spicy sauce. The fish is served with a slightly crusty skin with the caramelised sauce. Peel the skin to discover soft fish flesh within. For variety, the stall also serves lala fried kam heong style, or sotong fried with a curry sauce. Both dishes are fried with four angle beans. Adventurous eaters can also order the siput sedut or small snails cooked in sambal.
